Deja vu helps Wellington to strong position on table

The similarities between Wellington's two State Shield wins at the Basin Reserve this weekend, which gave them two bonus points, 10 points in all, and hurled them to the top of the Shield table, were various and unmistakable.

Twice they lost the toss and were forced to bat and twice, in difficult or unproductive conditions, they achieved moderate but defensible totals. Twice they batted with a rich mixture of luck and application, enthusiasm and recklessness to create, through that goulash, an innings of some substance and merit.

Then twice and without bowling as well as either of their performances implies, they dismissed their opponents for piecemeal totals and were able to walk away, not only with victories which were as comprehensive as they were improbable, but with the bonus points which are the final arbiters of merit.

Yesterday, they made 168 in 50 overs and dismissed Central for 58 in 86 minutes - the lowest score by any New Zealand one-day side in domestic competition against another. Today, they made 206/9 in a match shortened to 42 overs per side by rain, which delayed the start by 90 minutes, and they bowled out Northern for 127 to win by 79 runs in the 37th over.

Their 206 was founded on the innings of captain Matthew Bell who made 65, who threaded together a necklace of small performances to form a greater and more valuable whole and who batted all but five of the overs of the innings.

Bell left Wellington 164/5 when he was out in the 37th over and was able to see them add another 42 runs at a cost of four wickets in a helter-skelter chase over those last five overs.

Just as their 168 against Central had seemed vulnerable on Saturday, till Central's reply gave it context, Wellington's 206 today seemed achievable for a Northern side with a reasonable retinue of batting talent. But once again Northern's reply gave Wellington's innings lustre and, particularly, reflected credit on the performance of Bell.

He glued together Wellington's innings in a series of small partnerships, the largest of which was his 51 with Chris Nevin and the largest contribution towards which was Nevin's 28 in 63 minutes. He put on an additional 43 for the second wicket with Richard Jones, who made 14, and 37 with Matthew Walker, who survived him and made 25.

There were then, in the final overs, the scattergun contributions of Walker, of Mayu Pasupati who made 14 from nine balls and Mark Jefferson who made 13. These added up to something valuable though no-one matched Bell's steadiness and application. The innings was weakened by three run outs, including Bell's which brought his innings to a wasteful finish, and which mirrored the three run outs which blighted their innings of Central Districts.

Bell's 167-minute stay at the crease was almost two hours longer than the residence of any other batsman and he survived exacting spells from Daryl Tuffey, Ian Butler and Joseph Yovich.

Butler, who bowls with surprising pace, had disconcerted Jones with a bouncer which struck him through his visor in the first over he received and which left his face raw and puffy through the remainder of the day.

The opening salvo of Northern's reply to Wellington's 206 made it seem in an instant to shrink in scale. Simon Doull, promoted to open with James Marshall, took two fours and a six among 18 runs from the over from James Franklin - helping himself to 16 - and sending a thrill of nervous anticipation down the backs of the Wellington's fieldsman.

But Doull's assault was short-lived - a storm which blew itself out too soon. He was out in only the second over of the innings when Northern were 22, when he was 18, and the innings then began to sag into an unseemly mass.

Franklin returned determined and revitalised and, after Mark Gillespie had removed Doull and Marshall, claimed two wickets of his own to leave Northern 42/4 when drinks were taken after 14 overs. They had been 34/1 after the seventh over but they added only eight more runs at the cost of the wickets of Marshall, Mark Bailey and Matthew Hart before drinks.

Wickets fell at 34, 35 and 36 and by drinks Franklin had 2-25 from seven overs, having bowled six overs for seven runs, and Gillespie had an opening spell of 2-14 from six overs.

Walker then cut down the Northern middle order, removing Hamish Marshall and Grant Bradburn, both for six, to leave them 48/5 and 53/6. There was an uncanny rider to the match in the fact five Northern batsmen were out for six.

Wellington had Northern 59/8 after 25 overs and were ready to read the last rites over the innings but the corpse was not yet lifeless.

Robbie Hart, Northern's captain, matched Bell by drawing together some shreds of lower order resistance and making them an effective, though finally futile rearguard action.

He stayed at the wicket for 70 minutes to record the innings' top score of 40 and she shared partnerships of 28 in 28 minutes with Tuffey, who made 17, and 40 in 24 minutes with Butler who had a six among his 10 runs.

From that 59/8 at the end of the 25th over, Northern resisted a further 12 overs - for more than an hour - and added 68 runs for their last two wickets. There were only nine boundaries in the innings - eight fours and a six - and five of those were taken among those resilient late partnerships.

The match should long since have been over. Wellington should have administered the coup de grace before the 30th over. Instead the match wandered on amid gathering gloom till Hart was out, bowled by Walker, in the 37th over and shortly after 8pm.

Walker finished with 3-13 from 6.4 overs to complete a fine all-round performance.